Letter to the editor
To the editor:
If you read the article in The Lawrence Ledger of Feb. 22 and the Times of Trenton, you may not be aware of or may not have noted some important facts.
There is nothing for free. The township will be distributing garbage containers at the residents’ expense. The township has to float $300,000 in bonds at a specified rate and time for repayment. The township residents must pay the cost.
There will be one garbage pickup per week. We, like other nearby townships, have two collections per week. Imagine just one, and that you missed that you missed it.
Residents will lose the ability to use containers they can manage. As one gets older or has a disability, he or she uses containers for their garbage that they can handle. In the future, those containers may not meet township proposed code. Therefore, there would be no pickup and a possible fine.
If you do not have a lawn service or have a young family, imagine the amount of grass and diapers that you will need to dispose of without the ability of curb pickup and all in one container.
No garbage may be put out before 5 p.m. the night before pickup, and containers must be off the street within 24 hours. What happens when you go on vacation or the sibling forgets to bring in the cans? There may be a fine.
Let’s talk about cost to benefit. The known cost is $300,000 plus interest for five years at 5.25 percent interest. There will be an anticipated savings of $108,000 per year with one collection. The above results in no savings for 3.5 years of the program. That is if everything remains constant. What happens after the five-year contract expires?
In the fourth year, using the $108,000 savings over the approximate 7,500 residential households, that equals $14.40 per year or 55 cents per lost collection and all inconveniences we will enjoy per household such as having compost in everyone’s yard, having to purchase mulching mowers or lawn service and having the pleasure of getting rid of your now excess garbage.
Is this to benefit the tax-paying residents of the township or aesthetics for the council?
Please call neighbors and the council and be at the March 6 council meeting at 8 p.m. to show your displeasure.
Bernie O’Keefe
Camelia Court